Resumes and Hiring #Printing Salespeople

A couple of weeks ago, we read that the CEO of Yahoo was forced to resign over an incorrect statement in his resume. He claimed he had a degree in computer science when in fact he had earned a degree in accounting. This seems almost trivial to what we are seeing on resumes for sales positions in the printing industry.

Is There A New Trend In Exaggerating Or Outright Lying On Resumes?

Though we are not a recruiting company, I do get an opportunity to review resumes with owners for printing sales positions. Lately it is getting depressing. We had a candidate with mistakes on his resume because he could not remember all of his previous jobs. Still another who said they were an expert in InDesign but could not show us any work.

As we have checked out resumes, we have found outright lies, misstatements and exaggerations.  This must be a new trend. I don’t remember it being this bad.

The funniest one I have heard is the candidate who wrote on his resume that he was bilingual. The interviewer was so excited with the prospect of another Spanish bilingual candidate in the company. She began to speak in Spanish. You guessed it. The candidate could not speak basic conversational Spanish.

Red Flags and Knock Outs

As always, before you start interviewing salespeople, make sure you and your team has decided what criteria are critical and what “red flags” are.  A typo, coming late for the interview or a short gap in employment may be a “red flag” and requires further probing. Not being totally honest on the resume in my opinion is not only critical but a “knock out.”

Check Out All Claims That Will Impact Performance on the Job

Here is the key message. Do yourself a favor. Check out everything on employment applications and resumes. Be sure to contact at least three references and review key elements and claims on the resume with them for accuracy.  Just because a person has worked in a printing company does not mean the person knows the fundamentals of litho or digital. Test your understanding of all claims that are critical to the performance on the job. In business, leaving a job open is better than hiring the wrong person.

Joe Rickard

A Perspective on Cognitive Dissonance for the Commercial #Printing Industry

It is not unusual for me to meet people at social gatherings who upon hearing that I am associated with the printing industry, exclaim, “Print is dead.” It is also interesting that many of the same people regularly use print as their communications of choice. They regularly read the NY Times printed version, read printed books and prefer hard copy marketing materials. Though they are steady consumers of print, they are convinced that digital media will completely replace print. This phenomenon can best be described as “cognitive dissonance.”

Printing salespeople should deal with this internal conflict of customers, even when they are picking up orders for print. The perception that digital media will at some time completely eradicate print is simply not true. The PIA reports that the annual expenditure for print is $144 billion and will continue to rise steadily to $158 billion by 2021. This number recognizes that some areas of print will be reduced, due to the growth of digital media, but overall print will continue to grow. Areas of print such as personalized packaging and relevant/personalized marketing will experience outstanding growth.

To battle customer’s “cognitive dissonance” printing professionals should remind their customers of the following:

·         A large percentage of young people continue to prefer to read print and paper communications versus computer screens

·         Print can, and often does, provide better ROI for marketing and direct mail campaigns than digital or retail only channels.

·         The better sustainable choice to help the environment is print. Trees are replaced by paper companies and paper can be recycled.

It is “OK” to use print and should be encouraged whenever possible. New emerging and growing digital media is great, but not intrinsically better. It is just different.  Whether used as a standalone communications channel or integrated with other media, it is a vital communication staple. It is not going away.  

Joe Rickard

How Printing Companies Can Make More Sales

Last week, I spoke to a friend of ours who was developing a sophisticated print project. The project was worth about $30,000. He is a decision maker, but not a designer or a print buyer. He was clear about his general requirements. But, he did not have specific specifications regarding substrates, coating, binding, digital versus offset etc.

He called three local printers for a quote. Again his personal experience matched our industry printing sales research. At no time, did any of the three printers, offer him significant help. They simply wanted specs to build a quote. Meanwhile, my friend needed assistance to determine the appropriate papers, binding and covers. Instead, they made assumptions. As if he knew the difference, they asked him did he want it digital or offset. He really did not know what they were talking about.

The Problem

His problem is that he knows his business and does not know printing. The printers knew their business but did not seem to know or care about our friends business. Consequently, our friend was deeply frustrated with the procurement process. He asked us, “Does a person need to be a “brain surgeon” to get a printing project printed?”

The problem for our industry is that our friend is a marketing executive with a substantial marketing budget.  He said he felt it was much easier to use digital media than working with hard copy print. As more and more print oriented buyers leave the market due to downsizing and retirement, there is a much great requirement to educate buyers and make the process easier. This may partially explains the success of VistaPrint.

A  Simple Suggestion

A simple recommendation for printers is, that every time a customer comes in for price quotes, don’t assume he or she knows printing. Not every customer is looking for the lowest price. Spend the extra time understanding what the customer is trying to do, the knowledge level of the buyer, the level of importance of the print job and what the expected impact of the project is. This is called “Consultative Selling”.

If you are worried about our friend, don’t worry. One of our consultants worked with our friend and his designer, and put together an outstanding set of specifications that produced a high impact print project. We had our friend make the final decision on the printer chosen.

Joe Rickard

www.intellectives.com

Unemployment and the Printing Industry

This may sound strange. We have a stalling economy, and an 8%+ unemployment rate, and even higher rate if you include those who have stopped looking.  You would think that there would be little or no interest in training or hiring more people by print providers and printing trade schools.

Some Print Providers are Hiring

Based on what we are seeing in both our training and consulting business, this assumption may not be the case.  Companies, that are moving into new print related products and services, are not only hiring but scrambling trying to find talent.

With that said, we are working with large and small printing organizations across North America that are hiring sales and operational personnel. At first glance, it seems these hiring organizations are just smart and taking advantage of lower hiring costs and the ready availability of talent. There is no question, that when the economy improves and we see a normal more employment rate, it will be much tougher find talented candidates.

Where Will Future Print Personnel Come From

There are a number of challenges for printing companies that plan to stay and grow in the printing industry. For instance, where are printing companies finding salespeople who can support the growing digital and personalized printing business. As the use of data bases and cross marketing services become more pervasive, how will printing companies staff up with the right production and operational personnel.

This dilemma has become clear to us. We consistently get requests to provide foundational commercial print courses, for not only sales people but operational people as well. Much of the training is to train new personnel on the basics of conventional and digital printing.  

Recommendation

My recommendation, to all print providers, is to dust off that marketing plan. Look very carefully at real and potential business opportunities. Identify what specific skills and manpower requirements you will need in the short and long term. Then start recruiting and identifying likely candidates within and outside the industry.

If it makes financial and business sense, hire now. Don’t wait. If you do hire, be sure to train and support them well. The print industry in the United States is a huge business but a transitioning business. The needs of the industry for new and skilled hires will be significant in the next business cycle.

Joe Rickard

What I Learned Today about Social Media

I just learned a good personal lesson about Social Media. This morning I attended a very well attended seminar on “How to Use Social Media to Grow Your Business”. It was held at Dominican College in Orangeburg NY. The Palisades Institute of Dominican College which provides programs on leadership, quality and ethics for the Hudson Valley, NY business and nonprofit community, sponsored the event.

First let me say, as a member of the Advisory Committee, I was one of a group which put the program together. We brought in two outstanding speakers, Fred Kinch, Managing Partner of Agency RX, NYC and Bill Madden, COO of Focus Media in Goshen, NY. At the end of their presentations we opened the session to the audience for questions. They did a great job and shared some excellent ideas applicable for any individual or organization.

We chose this Social Media topic because accelerated changes in channels of communication and media are having a major impact on how most organizations interact with their customers. We found many local business leaders are finding it difficult to keep up with new trends and strategies being driven by social media outlets.

With these changes, many are feeling “left behind”. Sorting out what to use and how best to use Social Media is a challenge.

As with many professional services providers, I keep up to date with what was happening on the Social Media front. I regularly read my mashable. com feeds and use my twitter, Linkedin and blog accounts. It is rare that I do not speak to a client or services provider about Social Media best practices. I would consider myself more knowledgeable than most. Though I am still learning every day about some new form or some unique way to integrate traditional and digital communication outlets, I am pretty satisfied where I am today professionally.

Listening to the comments today and the questions being asked, I realized something that I had missed. I simply have allowed my use of Social Media to become redundant and stale. I may be suffering from the law of diminishing returns.

Here is what I learned today from the Seminar:

It is not enough for me manage the Intellective Solutions and understand clients Social Media strategy. My personalized day to day information sources are out of control. I am missing things. Time is money. I need to go back to my Twitter, Facebook, Blog and Linkedin feeds and eliminate those that are not bringing value or are essential to my professional requirements. There is too much information for anyone to absorb. There are only so many relationships that can be maintained. With the constant change and proliferation of content and outlets, managing regularly what we see and hear on is vital.

My resolution is that I will regularly review what I get, when I get it and how I am getting it. If it isn’t bringing value, it is gone.

Joe Rickard

A Modest Proposal for the Print Industry

Within the printing industry, I regularly see discussions and articles about the future of print. Recently, I saw a discussion board topic on Linkedin, “Is Print Dead”. Many of the answers were very thoughtful.  Some of the responses referenced third party research and data that built a strong case for a long life for the print industry.

We Are Not Getting Our Message Out.

Regardless of the facts, there is a relentless barrage of anti print social media content that predicts the demise of print. If you put the word “print is dead” in Google, you will find a great deal of content by software companies, digital marketers, and e media bloggers that take a critical view of print. Many of these pseudo experts are attempting to build a model at the expense of print. But what is really frustrating is that many of the same people, who use print extensively to acquire information about products and services, often are the very people talking about the demise of print.

We cannot rely solely on the trade associations and manufacturers to explain that print is “alive and well”. They do not really know all of the new and unique customer applications being created by our industry daily. With great intentions, some of the industry suppliers , print users and associations have done a good job marketing the value of print.  

Here is My Proposal

We are a powerful and large interest group. Let’s really use the combined communication power of the print industry. I propose every print related business feature one print job or campaign monthly that delivered their client excellent ROI. We then would share this on a social media outlet(s)of choice. The result would be over 600,000 blog, Facebook, Twitter, Google +, and YouTube placements in the US alone.  Many of these best practices would be shared, sent or retweeted to other outlets and individuals. Can you imagine the search engine optimization potential for individual print providers and the industry. Anyone doing a search for best practices regarding communications would certainly stand a much better chance to see the power of print versus what they normally see today.

The Bottom Line

At the end of the day, companies need to grow both top and bottom line revenue. With limited exceptions, most companies are severely challenged in this area. Sooner or later, companies will make a decision on media utilization based on financial performance, and not on emotion or opinion.  The print industry is delivering customer value every day. Collectively, we need to get the message out to a much wider audience.

And that is my proposal

Joe Rickard

If You Are Not Getting New Print Business - Don't Wait

There is a lot of confusion and uncertainty out there right now. Many print providers are beginning to take another look at their sales programs. Recently we received an e mail from a great printer we know. 

He said, “In our company, we don’t have a consistent system for sales. Since the market & sales techniques are changing, what is the most efficient system for a company to follow to approach new accounts?

As far as I know, there’s no magic formula. Basically, I don’t have a procedure of what I expect my salespeople to start doing this from a starting situation. Where should I start with as an owner/sales manager? And what should be my expectations from our salespeople”

Here is my answer

Ah! This is a great question. You are right. You need a system. Without one, we can’t measure your success, build a sales program or even adjust your system if required.

Since you have some experienced people, I would not recommend pure cold calling right now. Try to lead them to more “warm calls”. Target the number and specific places where your products are best suited for them to call on. You should look at accounts where they have friends, business relationships or prior knowledge. Ask them to gain appointments in a specified period of time, perhaps one month.

Have them meet with you every Monday at 5PM each week to review their progress. You will simply manage a list with how many of the accounts were contacted, where have they gained face to face meetings and what were the results. Help and practice with them with what to say, what are some good phone and face to face techniques and how to handle objections

Doing this alone, will be a good start in developing a sales management system. See how it goes and adjust accordingly. Doing something is always better than never starting.

Joe Rickard